Portlock Park- Salt Spring Island

Portlock Park is located on Salt Spring's Vesuvius Bay Road just before the North End Road junction. The park offers playing fields for soccer (and other sports), tennis courts and swimming, and for those who can't get through the fifteen minute drive from Vesuvius Bay to Ganges without visiting a playground (us), there's a small one there.

Located right next to the car park Portlock Park Playground is small and a bit tired. It has a climbing tower...no, more like a small climbing turret with a curly slide, two bouncy things, a tire swing and the usual double big kid, double toddler swing combo. All of these are on tiny pebbles and there is also grass to play on and picnic tables. When the park is open there are washrooms.

There's not a lot to say about this playground. It's functional, has enough to keep any child occupied for a while and is in a location where I expect it gets used but never crowded. But then again, it doesn't match the playground in Ganges's Centennial Park for apparatus, views or liveliness.

Centennial Park Playground- Salt Spring Island

Centennial Park is located right at the waterfront in the centre of Ganges, the largest town on Salt Spring Island. The park is most famously known for it's Saturday market which draws visitors from far and wide. The playground is tucked in between the market and the water, and is surrounded by trees which provide great shade for parents to stand in on hot sunny days while they wait for their little ones.


On a pebble base, the playground features a climbing structure aimed at big and little kids that has various things to climb up and down, a curly plastic slide, a low double plastic slide and platforms of various levels. It was very busy when we visited and I had trouble getting good photos and even this one needed some doctoring (spray-painted faces) before I was willing to use it.

There are six swings: three big kid and three toddler and there are also a couple more interesting pieces of equipment there. Firstly I should say that it's always fun to find new playgrounds especially during a day trip away, but when we stumble across a 'treasure'....well it always makes my day. Both of the frilly items are old and completely took me back to my youth. Firstly there is a metal rocking horse bench which is peeling and looks like it belongs in a museum, and whereas 'A' didn't even notice it, I almost swooned because I didn't think there were any of these left in the world.



The second thing was another horse, this time a worn yellow metal bouncer which must have been one of the first bouncy things made. It's in a leaping position and it took me a while to figure out that this is a design like one of those bouncy horses on four springs that you'd have been more likely to see in someones home, not in a playground....or maybe on a carousel.



Anyway, this playground might be a bit past it's prime but it has it's charms and is in the lovely and bustling Centennial Park which has washrooms, a bandstand and is nicely landscaped with lots of grassy areas for football or picnics.

Parking is probably okay on less busy days but can be problematical on Saturday's in the summer when tourists, locals and day trippers alike vie for the precious spots.